Violinist Rachel Barton Pine pines for Mozart, Metallica

Violinist Pine pines for Mozart, Metallica

Jul. 11, 2012

Violinist Rachel Barton Pine debuted with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age 10. To relax after practicing, she listened to rock and heavy metal. Today her career merges both genres. / Courtesy Photo

Written by

Free Press Staff Writer

Related Links

On the front cover of her 2011 classical album “Capricho Latino,” a demure Rachel Barton Pine wears a tasteful, lacy black outfit as she sits in a formal upholstered chair tenderly holding her violin.

On the back cover of the new self-titled album by her heavy-metal project Earthen Grave, Pine stands in the midst of five big guys with facial hair, none of whom you would want to meet in a dark alley, or maybe not even a brightly lit alley. She and her band mates are all wearing menacing expressions as well as black clothes accented with black leather jackets.

Those are two of the musical sides of Rachel Barton Pine, who will bring both elements to the Vermont Summer Music Festival in the coming days. Best known as a classical violinist, the Chicago native will lead the New York Chamber Soloists Orchestra through all five of Mozart’s violin concertos during Saturday’s concert in Stowe. On Monday in Burlington, she and cellist Mike Block will run through a program titled “Old World, New World” that will touch upon everything from Bach to Appalachian folk to Metallica.

“It’s very connected to the music of the people,” Pine said of folk, “and classical is just taking these roots and elevating them to another plane.”

Speaking in a phone interview last week from Boston, Pine said folk has influenced classical – Brahms’ Hungarian dances, for example – and classical has influenced rock. “A lot of the great guitarists were classically trained and consider their music to be classically inspired,” according to Pine.

She likes that her program highlighting all those forms of music might help rock fans realize the connections that music has with classical and could let classical fans see that rock has its merits.

“My main point, of course, is to advocate for classical music,” Pine said, but the “unintentional side effect” is that it could bring diverse crowds together. “Good music is good music, and most audiences are welcoming to anyone who wants to participate.”

Though only in her mid-30s, Pine has already had a long, successful career in classical music. She debuted with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age 10 and was a professional musician by age 14 who, as a way to relax after practicing violin for eight hours a day, listened to rock and heavy metal.

(Page 2 of 2)

Pine’s rise toward classical stardom was interrupted by a horrific accident in 1995. As described in a 2008 article by the Chicago Tribune, Pine’s violin strap became caught in the door of a train in her hometown; unable to move her left arm, Pine was dragged by the train until she freed herself, which caused her legs to be run over by the train. Her right leg was severely injured, and she lost most of her left leg.

Pine is loath to talk about the accident. “I don’t feel that my medical issues have ever defined me one iota as an artist,” she said, calling the media’s need to discuss them “unfortunate.”

“I was an artist before,” she said, “and I just picked up where I left off.” That same Chicago Tribune article from 2008, in fact, called her “one of the most accomplished violinists of her generation.”

Pine said she faced other daunting challenges in her youth while growing up in a household where her father was often unemployed, her mother spent her time caring for the children and the family couldn’t always afford simple things like gas. It was hard to hold onto her dream of being a professional violinist, she said, and the accident represented a similar challenge.

“It wasn’t something different in a way,” Pine said of the accident, as she had already been conditioned to hold onto hope “even when it wasn’t logical to be optimistic.” To return the favor for those who helped her financially in her youth, Pine has created a foundation to loan instruments and award financial grants to young artists. She has also provided classical-music supplies to musicians in developing nations such as Haiti and Nigeria.

Pine has made regular concert appearances in Vermont, and her agent is Melvin Kaplan, the founder of the Vermont Mozart Festival and the new Vermont Summer Music Festival who runs Melvin Kaplan Inc., from his office on College Street in Burlington.

“I spent a couple of summers at the Marlboro Music Festival, and that’s very close to my heart,” Pine said of the renowned classical program in southern Vermont. “I think summer is the best time to go to Vermont, and it’s great to be coming back.”